Shenkuu River Rush

Shenkuu River Rush
ID #	877
World	Shenkuu
Category	Action, Sports
High Scores
Game Page

Shenkuu River Rush is a game released on July 20, 2007. It is the first game on Neopets with a 3D look and as such requires the 3D Life Player plugin. It is also the first and currently only game in which the clothes one's active Neopet wears influence the gameplay.

While Mystery Island would seem like the obvious choice for surfing in Neopia, the professional surfers know that the waves at the waterfalls of Shenkuu are the biggest. Two of those professionals are Bowe and Cassile, of whom the player needs to guide one to the end: a lake at the end of level six.

How to play

The game starts after the user has picked one of the two surfers. There's no difference in gameplay between them, except that they perform the various tricks slightly differently. The goal of the game is to reach the end of Shenkuu River and to score as many points as possible by doing stunts and picking up power-ups. One has three lives, which are reduced by one when a crash landing is made or when one hits an obstacle. The only way to get them back is by reaching a new level, which restores one life.

As one descends the waterfall, the game gets harder. The river makes more turns, the number of obstacles increases and their size increases as well. Certain moves, the Double Jump and the Long Jump aren't available until just before the third level and just before the fifth level, before which they aren't needed. To get down safely, one, apart from learning to steer the riverboard, has to pick up power-ups. They look like small, glowing orbs and are each worth one point. There are three different ones: one increases speed, one allows a super jump and the third one grants a one time invulnerability.

While reaching the end within a certain time limit gives you some points, far more can be obtained by performing tricks. A trick can be done during a jump or fall by holding down Shift. The longer the trick takes to perform, the more points it is worth. During a jump or fall, there's usually enough time to perform multiple stunts. In that case, the points will be added to a total. Points for tricks are only awarded when they are followed by a safe landing. This means one has to land on the water (or sometimes the shore) when not performing a stunt. The queued tricks can be cleared by pressing Spacebar.

Tricks

These are the six stunts available in Shenkuu River Rush. Making a typo when entering a trick code doesn't do harm; the game only registers the first working combination it receives. Each stunt has a basic value for performing it. They become worth more if they are part of a chain of stunts. For instance, if a 1-point trick is the second trick to be performed in one jump or fall, it is worth 2 points. If it'd be third, it would be worth three points. Similarly, a 4-points trick that is the third trick in a chain is worth 6 points and so on.

1-point tricks Tomamu Tail Flare: down-down Whirling Kazeriu: right-left

4-points tricks Juma Spin: right-down-left Sandan Somersault: up-down-down

8-points tricks Pygui Roll: left-right-down-left Quilin Eclipse: Up-left-down-Up

Items

Pack of Holding: Adds points to your score when you start a new level.
Speed Beads: Increases speed.
Boots of Leaping: Jumps are more powerful.
Winged Talisman: Decreases gravity and increases flight longevity.

Trivia & Secrets

• Every trick is named after a Fanciful Fauna Petpet.
• The Gnorbu that maintains the Lunar Calendar can at various points be seen in this game.
• The power-ups might very well be motes: Speed Boost resembles the Electrical Mote, Invulnerability resembles the Metal Mote and Super Jump resembles the Air Mote.
• While the game supposedly is about surfing, the gameplay far more resembles snowboarding as done in games like the SSX series.
  
• There is a secret path, after you get the "double jump" (spacebar x2), there's a fourth super jump where you can see a river running under you to your right. If you head off to the right, you can land in that river and go through an insane caves secret level.

External links

• Game: Shenkuu River Rush
• Editorial: 303